İNKAYA MAĞARASI KAZILARI

The İnkaya Cave, located in the Çan district of Çanakkale province, was discovered during the Muğ-la and Çanakkale Provinces Surface Survey conducted in 2016. Excavations in the cave began in 2017 and are still ongoing. The rocky system in which İnkaya Cave is situated was formed as a result of volcanic activity during the Late Oligocene–Early Miocene period. The cave contains cultural layers dated between 86,360 and 22,580 years ago. Findings from the excavations consist of knapped stone tools and fragments made of flint and basalt. Among these, the high proportion of flake-based production samples and Levallois industry artifacts indicate that the cave was used during the Midd-le Paleolithic period. The variety and density of findings inside and around the cave provide impor-tant insights into the spatial use of the cave. For instance, findings from the western section of the main chamber suggest that this area was used as a workshop, while notched and denticulated tools increasing towards the north imply that leather or wood processing activities might have taken place there.The cave provides new evidence for the presence of humans in Western Anatolia during severe gla-cial periods in the Northern Hemisphere, when people sought refuge in valley shelters. Since there have been very few Paleolithic studies conducted in this region, the findings from the İnkaya Cave excavations have the potential to shed light on possible cultural interactions between Anatolia and the Balkans during the Late Middle Paleolithic period. This study presents a brief evaluation of the inhabitants of İnkaya Cave based on data obtained from excavations conducted between 2017 and 2023.